Secret 1999 Bugatti Concept Car

Revitalizing the Bugatti brand surely was no easy task for the people involved and unfortunately, to this day we don’t know the whole story. But it seems that new bits and pieces of this saga are coming to light.

These are pictures of a car resembling the Veyron that have been supposedly drawn by Walter de’Silva back in 1999. At that time, the concept car was meant to give some inspiration to VW chairman Ferdinand Piech, who had the mission of reviving the Bugatti brand. These images were brought to light by Quattroroute Magazine from Italy.

At that time, different versions of the future Bugatti were drawn by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who created the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron, and VW design chief Hartmut Warkuss, who had also invited others to participate.

Carefully watching these pictures can only rise one fundamental question: What was Walter de’Silva thinking? But you need to take into consideration that a lot of elements present on this concept are also found in the production Veyron. Some of these elements include deeply sculpted side air inlets, the fuel cap, and a rounded rear surrounded by larger side paneling.

So if you’re not a fan of this concept car - and let’s be honest, it’s kind of hard to be - keep in mind that they had a crucial part in conceiving the Veyron’s final design. Since January 2007, Walter de’Silva has been Volkswagen’s head of design, so he is now responsible for the future of the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen brands.